China revokes pilots’ licences following vaping incident
China has revoked the licences of two Air China pilots after one of them caused a passenger flight to plunge 21,000 feet when he was vaping in the cockpit.
The Air China flight fell due to a sudden loss of cabin pressure when one of the pilot’s accidentally turned off the air-conditioning instead of a fan as he was trying to prevent smoke from his e-cigarette wafting into the passenger cabin.
Cutting the air-con caused oxygen levels to fall, the passengers’ oxygen masks dropped and the plane went into an emergency descent.
The civil aviation body fined the airline and cut the carrier’s flights with Boeing 737 models by 10%.
It also ordered Air China to undertake a three-month safety review.
Once the crew saw that the air conditioning had been turned off, they reactivated it and brought the flight back to its normal altitude.
The plane went on to complete the flight and none of the 153 passengers or crew was injured.
A third pilot on board, who was not involved in the incident, had his licence revoked for six months and was banned by Air China for two years, according to the South China Morning Post.
Chinese flight regulations prohibit all flight crew from smoking, and banned passengers from using e-cigarettes on board in 2006.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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